yoga,raja yoga, jnana yoga, samadhi yoga, etc. Certain personalities
or schools concentrated on and emphasized more just one limb or
part of the original eight-fold path to the exclusion or neglect of the
other parts, And so, much of the real practice of Yoga has been lost
and a student must search hard and long to find that rare, competent
Yoga teacher or living adept.
For the purposes of these volume we are concerned mainly with
the psycho-physical asanas and diet of Hatha Yoga. The have a
parallel healthy effect on the body. Like the purifying diet and Vita
Flex, the yogic diet and exercises undertaken even for a short time
promotes health, cleansing and a higher vibration.
the pycho-physical asanas affect both body and mind and are
generally classified into meditative and cultural exercises.
Originally the meditative asanas such as the well-known cross-
legged lotus varieties and kneeling postures were static poses used
only for long periods of meditation. Only much later in medieval
times were cultural asanas developed as aids to tone up the body and
help to hold the meditative postures longer in those who had weaker
bodies. The cultural asanas helped create a psycho-physical
condition conducive to better health and performance of meditative
poses. As hundreds of years passed these unique Yoga gymnastic
exercises became systematized and were mistaken for yoga itself.
Instead of being known for their true function of making the body
stronger so that the yogin could meditate longer, the asanas became
an end in themselves and the real Yoga practice ao mind control and
advancement to spiritual meditation was undermined. distorted, and
then forgotten.
Later, however, it became apparent that the cultural asanas had
a very good influence on health, having a healing and corrective